


Pandora's Box.

by glitter and gold (doubleinfinity)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 03:08:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleinfinity/pseuds/glitter%20and%20gold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They bring Rumpelstiltskin home in Pandora's Box, and all Belle knows is she longs to be with him.  She decides to spend her eternity with him in the box.</p><p>One Shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pandora's Box.

"I- I don't understand."

Those were the first words she managed when she learned the fate of Rumpelstiltskin. Disbelief settled, sending a weight of shock down her spine. Belle was still salvaging the words when Emma planted Pandora’s Box in her palm, returning the elaborate gift that she’d worked so hard to send to him.

“I’m sorry,” Emma offered, her hard expression melting for a moment. Then she was gone, a the faint jingling of a bell marking her dismissal.

Belle traced her fingers along the cosmic and steam engine shapes of the box. It was no different than a toy- it could just as easily be a music box, a treasure chest. But tears started dripping down on the surface, staining the surface cold and making her fingers tense up on the patterns. It wasn’t a toy. It was his coffin.

 _Her fault._ The realization made her crumble. She’d sent Rumpelstiltskin to eternity in this box. If it hadn’t been for her, he might have had a chance at coming home. He’d depended on her, and her actions had locked his soul away forever. She knew she wasn’t a Hero. Her brave act had destroyed the one person she’d loved enough to save.

Spinning around wildly, Belle took in the magic luxuries of his shop. Incantations he’d devoted his life to. Simple objects infused with magic that had made his soul become dark. And despite all of it, it was this tiny box, this miniature action, that had taken him away.

Staggering to the ground, Belle’s vision swam in the truth that she’d never see him again; that she was the reason for it. She grasped the box in both her hands, wailing inaudibly, pressing the object to her lips.

As the cold metal touched her lips, she realized: _It doesn’t have to be like this. I can still be with him._

Loving Rumpelstiltskin meant embracing sacrifice. It meant coexisting with evil, and battling a perhaps futile, but neverending war against the demons that had become phenomenons inside him. This was truly no different. There was still a chance.

She would live with him for infinity in Pandora’s Box. She’d lock herself away and dwell with his soul until time was no more.

Belle’s lips lingered, and she spoke quietly against the surface, words he’d taught her, rubbing the ruby gem with desperate fingers. There was nothing at first. And then a bright glow came from the center of the box, swirling around her body and lighting her with a million horrors and hopes that made her head spiral.

She didn’t know if she’d be conscious. She didn’t know if her soul was to become dormant for eternity. But she would live with him forever. Even if amongst the most sequestered evil, even if it meant giving up everything for him, they would be together.

Her body vanished, the box slipping from her ghostly fingers and falling to the floor. For a moment, it rumbled brightly, reverberating with heat. There was a sigh. And then all fell silent in Mr. Gold’s shop.


End file.
